Police to re-open slain journalist’s case

Reports say the Nigerian Police might re-open the case of the slain journalist, Late Mr. Dele Giwa.

Speaking to Punch Newspapers, the Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole, said “Regarding reopening of Dele Giwa’s case, yes, (the) police can re-open it, if there are new leads. There is no statute of limitation to criminal investigations.”

Punch reports that the decision to re-open the case is coming on the heels of the contradictory statement made by the police officer, who was in charge of investigating the case at that time, former Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Chris Omeben.

According to Punch Omemben said the prime suspect in the case, Kayode Soyinka escaped, that was why the killer could not be unveiled.

A statement, the former Lagos State Commissioner of Police,Abubakar Tsav, described as false.

Tsav insists that he investigated the case, adding that the case was frustrated because his team of investigators asked to interrogate military personnel, who served in Gen. Ibrahim Babangida’s Government.

Tsav said “We called the late Gani Fawehemi, Florence Ita-Giwa and we called (Kayode) Soyinka, he too came, and Ray Ekpu, we took statements from all these people.

“At the end of my investigations and from the evidence we received, somebody called Dele Giwa and asked him where he was living.

“The person said he was going to Kano and that he would want to break his journey to see Dele Giwa in his house and that Dele Giwa should tell him where he was living. When we got that information, we knew that the person wanted to know where exactly Dele Giwa was.

“Not quite long, somebody came on a motorcycle to deliver the letter to Dele Giwa’s son (at that time, Soyinka was in the room), he took the letter and gave it to his father.”

 Adding that “Dele Giwa saw the padded letter with the Nigerian Coat of Arms and he said ‘this must be from the Presidency’ and when he attempted to open it the thing went off.”

Tsav also said “When I investigated to this level, I wrote my report and sought for permission from the AIG who was at that time Victor Pam (he was the one in charge) for me to search the offices and houses of (Col.) Halilu Akilu and Togun, it was at this time that Omeben was transferred to take over from Victor Pam.

“I investigated the case but met with this frustration because the file never got back to me.

“The claim by Omeben that he handled the case and established a case against Soyinka is completely false. I wonder why people who claim to be senior officers and men of God will tell these kinds of lies.

“It was already established that somebody telephoned Dele Giwa. We wanted the evidence from NITEL at that time because when somebody telephones there is a call log we will know who made the call, from which phone number, to which number.”